Communication Connection

COMMUNICATION

CONNECTION

March 2022 | Issue 8 | Helping Families and Schools Since 1997

Building Trust With Families as Members of IEP Teams

Spring is Coming! And with it comes warmer weather, birdsong and lovely flowers. Or snow because this is Michigan. Spring is also the time that many schools and families consider IEP season. This season brings lots of meetings, data, evaluations, and reports. It also brings a new opportunity to build trust with families, enhance relationships, and create rock solid plans for the delivery of special education supports and services that are focused on the students we serve.

Many parents may feel outnumbered, intimidated, and even uncomfortable in the school setting (where they might not personally have had positive experiences). Here are a few simple suggestions to make these meetings more efficient and welcoming to families and demonstrate to them their importance to the process and their child.

Begin the meeting with an acknowledgement of how important the parents/guardian is and how important working together with them is for the student’s benefit;

Consider offering some parent/guardian training in the supports and services section of the IEP, and let them know of your specific commitment to ongoing reports/communication with them;

Consider having the student attend a portion or all of the meeting so that the family will see how well staff interacts with them.

Provide, in advance of the meeting, the relevant data and agenda to families. Talk with the parents/ guardian one on one before the meeting, explaining to them the data and progress in a language that they will understand (consider an infographic);

If the meeting is in person, be sure to welcome the parents/guardian into the meeting and consider asking them to sit next to whomever is running the meeting as a demonstration of their importance.

Special Education Mediation Services (SEMS) understands the challenges these meetings can bring. We help navigate these complex meetings by providing a FREE neutral facilitator whose role is to help team members stay on task, follow rules of conduct, ensure all voices are heard, help negotiate disagreements, and keep the meeting focused on the student. Call us early, call us often! We're here to help!

FREE FAST EFFECTIVE

CALL 1-833-KIDS-1ST

Communication Tips

Reframing and De-escalating

Nobel prize winning psychologist and author Daniel Kahneman explains the two cognitive processes we use for decision making in his book Thinking Fast and Slow. One is our fast and emotional response (95%) based on intuition and instinct. Two is a slower, rational, thoughtful and logical response (5%). An effective communicator has learned to tap into system 2 when system 1 wants to take over. Here are some examples of how to move out of blaming, threatening, insulting, demanding and the past to a focus on needs, concerns, aspirations and the future.

Communication Resources

Family Engagement and its Impact During Distance Learning Follow-up Report TalkingPoints.org findings from the 2020-21 school year and a look at year-over-year changes from 2019-20.

Collaborating to Transform and Improve Education Systems. A September 2021 Brookings Institution "playbook" for family and school engagement.

Michigan Department of Education Guidance Due Process Complaints a guidance document for parents.

Michigan Department of Education Guidance Due Process Complaints a guidance document for schools.

SEMS Presents

Please join our sessions being presented in partnership with:

Michigan Alliance for Families

March 8: The Manifestation Determination Review: Navigating the Process with Special Education Mediation Services 12:00-1:00 pm.

April 14: Effective Communication with School During COVID-19, 12:00-1:00 pm.

April 21: COVID Considerations: Catching Up and Keeping Up with Special Education Mediation Services, 12:00-1:00 pm.

Michigan Council for Exception Children Conference

March 3: What Do/Did We Know About Effective Communication and Collaboration and How Has the Pandemic Changed Our Way of Building Family and School Relationships?, 8:15-9:15 Catch the recording!

15th Annual Inclusion Conference

March 9: How to Build Trust in School and Family Partnerships, 1:45-2:45

Wayne RESA Parent Advisory Committee

March10: How to Build Trust in School and Family Partnerships, 6:30

Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children 2022 Annual Early Childhood Conference

May 5-7: What Do/Did We Know About Effective Communication and Collaboration and How Has the Pandemic Changed Our Way of Building Family and School Relationships? Time TBD

Covid-19 Policy

Special Education Mediation Services (SEMS) strives to serve all educators and parents with communication training and collaborative dispute resolution resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To get the most up to date information on our COVID-19 response policy visit https://www.mikids1st.org/notice or if you have questions about the policy please call 517-334-0034.

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